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---"Focused Coverage Informed Perspectives"---Tue, Sep 16, 1997 edition

Congress Update shadows of Tiananmen cast Jiang and company in different light

Also in this edition . . . 1: Chen Xitong is charged 2: reports on growing Russo-Japanese ties 3: Xinjiang web site 4: Lianhuanhua comics reveal popular culture and history of media, art and propaganda

PARTY CONGRESS

Congress watch: ( Party finds consensus elusive Disunity preceded the CPP's 15th Congress and now it is discussing the colossal task of modernising China's industries. ) The Bangkok Post today ran an article written by Harvey Stockwin, the Hong Kong correspondent for the Times of India and Jakarta Post, which offers insightful analysis of the power shifts and decision-making process occurring in Beijing. He also addresses the new 'privatization' scheme and demobilization of some half million PLA soldiers. Readers are encouraged to read this article. Public relations: ( Propagandists put to work on reforms ) As we would expect, the propaganda apparatus has revved up its machine to back up Jiang Zemin, his thought and the coming shareholding scheme for state-owned enterprises, reports the Hong Kong Standard. One thing to note: the government foresees a long transition for some of these companies, saying that the scheme will continue on into the middle of the next century. Justice: ( Judges decide on charges against Chen ) Chinese Justice Minister Xiao Yang announced today that disgraced Beijing Mayor Chen Xitong will be charged with squandering public funds and influence-peddling, the Hong Kong standard reports. Tiananmen: letter challenges orthodoxy surrounding June 4 ( Letter Circulated in Beijing Challenges Official Verdict on Tiananmen Square ) The New York Times has an article today on a letter circulated among delegates to the National Congress and reportedly written by Zhao Ziyang. In it the writer has called for the leadership to reassess June 4 and its labeling as a "counter -revolutionary" movement. Some excerpts from the letter are given in the article: "The problem of reassessing 'June 4' will have to be resolved sooner or later. Even though a long time has already passed, the people will not just forget." "Even though a long time has already passed, the people will not just forget," the letter said. "It is better to resolve this sooner rather than later, better to resolve it actively rather than passively, better to resolve it when the situation is stable rather than when trouble appears." New York Times reporter Seth Faison also recaps Zhao's significance to the Tiananmen incident and his standing, or lack of it, in current politics. It's well worth reading, for it sheds light onto the shadows which lurk behind the scenes in China's political landscape and shows how the past can haunt the present until a fitting resolution is achieved . . . Justice minister responds . . . ( Tiananmen judgment 'will never change' ) At a press conference opened to foreign media yesterday Justice Minister Xiao Yang responded to questions about Tiananmen and the letter reportedly circulating through the ranks of the leadership. "The party and the people have already arrived at a correct judgment of that incident and there will be no change in that." Meanwhile . . . ( Mother of killed student calls for legal action ) The mother of a college student struck down by the PLA on June 4 has said Zhao Ziyang should have spoken up earlier, although she appreciated his efforts to do so now. Ding Zlin, a professor of Philosophy at the People's University in Beijing, wants those responsible for the death of her son and others to be brought to justice.

REGIONAL

It should go without saying that the stability and diplomatic ties of China's neighbours directly affects how Beijing pursues and shapes its policies in the region. Japan-Russia: ( Behind Japan-Russia thaw, a fear of China (9/09/1997) ) The San Jose Mercury has a piece from last week on the growing ties between Russia and Japan, despite their unresolved territorial disputes. ( Disputed islands no longer stand between Japan-Russia alliance (9/09/1997) ) In a related article the paper notes that these ties could benefit the United States and place China at a perceived disadvantage. Korea: Korea Herald : Analysis is a report written by a professor at Kwan Dong University in Kangnung. It analyses the power shuffle in North Korea and its implications. The analysis appears in the August edition of the Korea Herald's magazine, "Outlook." Xinjiang: Free Eastern Turkestan is a web site calling "for the freedom of the hearts and minds of the people of Eastern Turkestan," a.k.a. Xinjiang.

ART

Popular culture: ( Literature in Line ) An exhibition of Chinese 'linked pictures' was shown at the Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library from April 25-June 13, 1997. Anyone interested in Chinese culture and development of new forms of media in the last century, as well as propaganda, will want to peruse through this on-line exhibit. ". . . The term lianhuanhua, literally "linked pictures," was coined in Shanghai in the 1920s to describe a form of illustrated story that had been developing in urban China since the introduction of Western printing technology in the late nineteenth century. Lianhuanhua books are usually only about three by five inches in size, with one picture to a page, and serve a market similar to that for cartoons and comics in the West. Although different in format and theme from most Western comic books, lianhuanhua may be described as the Chinese response to new forms of publishing imported from the West. . . ." ". . . The exhibition is divided into two parts. It begins with historical and mythological subjects, and progresses in the second section to modern subjects. Within the Shanghai studios, artists were divided into antique costume specialists and specialists in realistic rendering. In the first decade after 1949, older artists, including Zhao Hongben and Qian Shaodai, excelled at the antique costume genre, while younger artists gravitated to modern subjects. By the end of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), the old lianhuanhua artists had passed from the scene, and this distinction became less rigid. The realist He Youzhi, for example, ventured into the antique costume mode with his Fifteen Strings of Cash."

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